I may never wash dishes again.

Why? Because I usually do kitchen chores in the early morning while waiting for the almighty bean to bestow its nectar upon me (aka waiting for the coffee to brew). If I don't do the dishes and laundry then, I usually catch them later in the day when I go downstairs for a refill.

Of course, the latter was affecting my productivity since if I was downstairs doing chores I was ~not~ upstairs writing and editing and networking and filing and doing all those other self-employed kind of things.

No More!
Like my motivational note from Jay? I thought I was supposed to be sending those to her, not the other way around--not that I'm complaining, mind you.

I may never wash a dish or fold another pile another laundry again. I'm debating the necessity of ever going downstairs, but am fairly sure the school will call and be ugly to me if I don't go pick up Jay in the afternoons.

In the meantime, Imma work on emptying that full pot you see in the picture :-)

Oh! And if anyone should decide that they think I am just the awesomest, I always need pods for the Senseo ;-)

Free Local Writing Workshops

I love the library. Really, I do, and this is one reason why.

On the 4th Thursday of every month from January-May they are offering a free writer's workshop at one branch. It's the branch of the Austin Public Library absolutely furthest from my house, of course, but I'm thinking it may be worth the trip.

For more info, click the link in the post title or visit: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/news/nr20070118.htm .

Virtual Author's Conference

Virtual Author's Workshop/Conference from eWomen Publishing Network

I wish I'd found out about this a week or two ago. In wandering the website, I was unable to tell whether or not they accept late registration. I think they will, since today is just the 2nd session and the first 3 sessions on planning are free according to their registration information.

A $249 author's conference you can take on your own time is a pretty good deal.

Tax Time - Why I Use Who I Use

I was a devout TurboTax user for years. Until last year.

The version of TurboTax that would help me file my taxes as a self-employed business owner was $69.99 last year. The H&R Block TaxCut version that did the same was $39.99. I'm a small business, to me that is a BIG difference.

In all honesty, I see very little difference between the two. Both have gotten harder to navigate over the years (I used TC once in the 90s, too) as they add more bells, whistles, and video tutorials (am I the only person who hates those? I Do Not want my computer to start talking to me when I am doing my taxes!)

Of course, I have it easier than most since I am based in Texas, one of the few states left without a state income tax.

WHY did H&R win me for a customer?

Simple. On December 27th I went to check my mail and there, in my mailbox, ready to be cracked open and used, was a full version CD of this year's software, the one needed to file Schedule C taxes. Sure, I still have to pay for it to activate it, but I didn't have to go to the store and compare all the versions and talk myself out of Turbo Tax (it's more expensive, it must be better, right?). In this case, time is money; they saved my time, they get my money.

Just to amuse Candy over at OffAssist, who KNOWS how much I love numbers, yes, *I* do our taxes. Every year since 1995. The one year my husband did them I ended up reviewing them and it took me 4 days!